Old Glory!

This famous name was coined by Captain William Driver, a ship master of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1831. As he was leaving on one of his many voyage aboard the brig CHARLES DOGGETT - and this one would climax with the rescue of the mutineers of the BOUNTY - some friends presented him with a beautiful flag of twenty four stars. As the banner opened to the ocean breeze for the first time, he exclaimed, "Old Glory!"

He retired in Nashville in 1837, taking his treasured flag from his sea days with him. By the time the War of Northern Aggression erupted, most everyone in and around Nashville recognized Captain Driver's "Old Glory." When Tennessee seceded from the Union, Rebels were determined to destroy his flag, but repeated searches revealed no trace of the hated banner.

Then on 25 February, 1862, Union forces captured Nashville and raised the American flag over the capital. It was a rather small ensign and immediately folks began asking Captain Driver if "Old Glory" still existed. Happy to have soldiers with him this time, Captain Driver went home and began ripping at the seams of his bed cover. As the stitches holding the quilt-top to the batting unraveled, the onlookers peered inside and saw the 24- starred original "Old Glory."

Captain Driver gently gathered up the flag and returned to the capital. Though he was sixty years old, the Captain climbed up to the tower to replace the smaller banner with his beloved flag. The Sixth Ohio Regiment cheered and saluted - and later adopted the nickname "Old Glory" as their own, telling and re-telling the story of Captain Driver's devotion to the flag we honor yet today.

Captain Driver's grave is located in the old Nashville Cemetery, and is one of the three places authorized by act of Congress where the Flag of the United States may be flown 24 hours a day.

A caption above a faded black and white picture in the book, The Stars and Stripes, states that "Old Glory" may no longer be opened to be photographed, and no color photograph is available. Visible in the photo in the lower right corner of the flag is an appliqued anchor, Captain Driver's very personal touch. "Old Glory" is the most illustrious of a number of flags - both Northern and Confederate - reputed to have been similarly hidden, then later revealed as times changed. The flag was given to his granddaughter or niece and she later donated it to the Smithsonian Museum.